site.btaValue of Products in Small Consumer Basket Increased by 5.9% in 2023, Y/Y

The value of the 20 basic products in the small consumer basket increased by 5.9% in 2023, year-on-year, from BGN 107.03 to BGN 113.72, the director of the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research with the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria, Lyuboslav Kostov, said during a presentation of the results of the traditional monitoring of consumer prices and living wages for the fourth quarter of 2023.

The price of minced meat has increased by 30% in a year, the price of pork by 21%, and the price of apples by nearly 40%, Kostov noted. On the other hand, the prices of tomatoes and oil have gone down by between 10% and 20%, he added, noting that the dynamics are heterogeneous.

A comparison between Bulgaria and other countries shows that Bulgarians earning the minimum wage are the ones who can afford to buy the basic product basket the least amount of times, Kostov said. "This proves that the growth rate of the minimum wage in Bulgaria is lagging behind the growth of prices, which implies an increase in the working poor and a decline in consumption," he added.

Kostov noted that Bulgaria is among the top 10 countries with the highest food inflation rates.